monastery
/ˈmɒnəst(ə)ri
/noun (plural monasteries)
A building or buildings occupied by a community of monks living under religious vows.In the middle of the 19th century abbot of the monastery was a monk named Genadii....
- Soon the effects of the new teaching were widely felt, with monks and nuns leaving their monasteries and convents.
- Wine has always had spiritual and religious significance, and monks and monasteries have long been regarded as playing a crucial part in wine history.
Synonyms
religious house, religious community;
friary, abbey, priory, cloister, convent, nunnery;
Buddhism vihara, lamasery;
Islam tekke;
Indian ashram
historical charterhouse, cell
rare coenobium, coenoby
Origin
Late Middle English: via ecclesiastical Latin from ecclesiastical Greek monastērion, from monazein 'live alone', from monos 'alone'.